PORTALES, N.M. – Eastern New Mexico baseball fell in tough fashion to Texas A&M-Kingsville on Saturday afternoon.

"They made contact a lot," said head coach Riley Price after the loss. "At the end of the day when you put it in play … your chances are better."

TAMUK definitely put it in play as they had 11 hits compared to just nine for ENMU. They also had additional opportunities with runners on base via walk.

Both starters in the game had shorter outings as the Javelinas had James Placke go four innings and Eastern saw Charlie Pierson go five innings.

Pierson gave up two early runs over the course of the first two frames, but stayed true to his game and left the mound with a 2-2 edge after the Greyhounds evened the game in the fifth inning.

A late throw by TAMUK was the difference for Eastern's first run coming in the fourth inning. The Javelina shortstop had too much juice on a routine throw to first that allowed one run to cross the plate. In the fifth, they tied it up with a towering single from Jake Willerup. The hit could have scored multiple runs, but the runner on first prepared to tag up as the ball was still in the vicinity where the left fielder could have made a play. Instead, they did not have the time to cross home multiple runs and the score was knotted at two.

Both relievers pitched well. Maddux Edmonson kept TAMUK off the scoreboard for the first three innings. Tyler Schumann for the Javelinas gave up a couple early hits, but took over the rest of the matchup as he earned a career-high 11 strikeouts over 20 batters faced.

In the ninth, TAMUK found a way to plate four runs and the rest was history.

"Do the little things right," said Price when asked about the message going into Sunday's game.

Eastern New Mexico and Texas A&M-Kingsville will have the getaway at 12 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is free to Greyhound baseball games.